The Day After Tomorrow part II of III
by Psychedk
Summary: Events take an unusual turn between Trevor and Claire...


Disclaimer: To the creators and producers of "Cupid" I bestow the ownership of the four lovely characters in this fictional piece of work. I'm just borrowing them for a bit of fun. No infringement intended.  
  
The authors Gene Wolfe and Leon Garfield have been a great inspiration for me, and once again thanks to Steve for beta reading. Comments at dawn@image.dk  
  
***  
  
The Day After Tomorrow  
  
by Dawn  
  
  
  
Part Two  
  
  
  
She is dreaming...  
  
Twirls of light, shifting in form and shape. They dance before and around her. Cold floor is hard beneath her bare feet. She shivers as an imaginative wind blows against her. Light creeps around her body, capturing her in long tentacles. Hard to breathe, and voices. Voices in her head, or was it one echoing voice? A dark female voice... "Fateful... not for you... alone..." the icy voice mutters. "Leave... you will leave..." A pressing sensation in her head, and she covers her ears with her hands. "Not welcome... stay away..." Claire screams and shuts her eyes against the burning light of the flaming female figure...  
  
***  
  
Now that all is said and done  
  
And the light has come our way  
  
Raining as it was, the world outside Claire's office windows was blurred as she looked outside. Her chair was turned towards the view outside, and she was gazing at the raindrops that beat against the windowpane, obscuring the view to the traffic outside. It was only just after noon, but Claire already felt that the day had lasted a lifetime. A partly empty bottle of Evian in her hands was all the lunch she had had.  
  
Now that all is said and done  
  
We freeze before the new day  
  
As she waited for her next patient, her mind was on the night before when she had argued with Trevor, standing mere inches from where she was sitting now. She didn't know how it had come to that, all the angry and hurting words. She had been so frustrated, but she knew now that it had very little to do with Trevor. The natural confidence that Trevor always seemed to move about with had triggered Claire's feelings of inadequacy in dealing with her own turmoil of emotions, she was sure of that. It had been unfair and unprofessional to take it out on him the way she had. Not to mention, to her knowledge she was the closest he had to a friend. Where would he go if she pushed him away, where would he turn? She didn't know.  
  
She had heard his message on the answering machine and then tried to call him once, but no one had answered. She had not done anything else.  
  
Claire's intercom beeped and Jaclyn's voice sounded. "Ms. Peters is here..."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Do you want me to send her in?"  
  
"Yeah... Yes."  
  
There was no enthusiasm in her voice, and as Jaclyn opened the door, showing in a woman in her forties, Claire's smile was a weak shadow of her usual greeting.  
  
The hours passed as Claire looked at the next patient sitting in front of her, a young woman who was yapping away about her husband's love for garlic. Her heavy glasses constantly slid down the bridge of her nose and as she pushed them back up with the middle finger she sniffed in a little, pausing in her telling.  
  
Now that I can close my eyes  
  
And you've walked out the door  
  
Claire wasn't listening at all. All she heard in her head was Trevor's voice on her answering machine, bidding her goodbye. She hadn't thought he was serious, but as she sat, watching the neurotic woman's lips move as she spoke, Claire truly wished that she had done more than just one phone call. Her stomach was a tight knot as she silently prayed that Trevor hadn't done something stupid like...  
  
She swallowed, stopping the thought. Trevor was fine, she was sure of that. He had just been upset, understandably, and as soon as she was off work she would go and sort things out with him.  
  
The woman sniffed oddly and pushed her glasses up, and Claire anxiously waited for the day to be over. She wished she had done more yesterday.  
  
Now I whisper my goodbyes  
  
We ended with an even score  
  
Is it true what I feel in my heart  
  
Was it love right from the start  
  
Jaclyn sighed as she held the receiver to her ear, listening to the man at the other end of the phone. She spoke quietly, nodded, and then listened.  
  
"Okay, I'll tell her. Thanks for calling."  
  
She hung up, glancing sadly at the closed door to Claire's office. She was not going to like this. Not at all.  
  
When the door opened and the last patient exited the office, nodding politely to Jaclyn, it was ten to five. After a few moments Jaclyn got up and walked to the door, poking her head inside.  
  
"Claire?" she called.  
  
Behind the desk Claire looked up with wide eyes, her grip on the water bottle tightening as the expression on Jaclyn's face confirmed her worst fears. Jaclyn licked her lips before taking a deep breath.  
  
"Claire... Champ just called. Trevor hasn't showed up for work."  
  
Yes, Claire definitely wished she had done more.  
  
Is it true what I feel in my heart  
  
Was it love right from the start  
  
It was late that night when Champ knocked on Claire's front door. It was pouring down and he held a folded newspaper over his head as a makeshift shelter. It was almost soaked, though, even from the short walk from the bus.  
  
The door opened to reveal Jaclyn's alert face.  
  
"Hey," Champ said. "It's a tsunami out here."  
  
"I can see that," Jaclyn answered, stepping aside to let him enter. "Next time wear a life buoy."  
  
Champ shrugged off his jacket to avoid dripping on the floor, and Jaclyn hung it in Claire's utility room. Turning to Champ she said, "So... anything?"  
  
Champ shook his head. "No. Trevor was not in our apartment when I got home. No note, nothing."  
  
"All we have is that phone call from him. It's not much."  
  
"No it isn't. How is she doing?"  
  
Jaclyn shrugged. "Not good, she's very upset. I think she's fighting to hold herself together. She's on the phone with the police right now, reporting him missing. It's a long shot, though."  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
They could hear Claire's voice from the living room, talking vividly. Champ looked down at the petite redhead in front of him.  
  
"Do you know what happened between them? I mean, for all of this to happen?"  
  
"Well," Jaclyn started. "She told me that she and Trevor had a fight yesterday, and that she said some ugly stuff. That's all I know."  
  
"Hmm, there's more to it than that," Champ said, keeping his voice down. "Trevor told me that Claire had kissed him rather enthusiastically the night he had brought her back to her apartment."  
  
Jaclyn gaped. "They kissed? Why hasn't she mentioned anything about that to me?"  
  
"She was drunk," Champ said, "Maybe she doesn't remember."  
  
Jaclyn nodded. "Come on, let's go in. She needs us."  
  
In the living room Claire was sitting on her couch with the phone in her lap, talking loudly to the police officer at the other end.  
  
"But I don't know the exact time he went missing... What do you mean it hasn't been 24 hours? He could be lying somewhere in a gutter by now while you..." She paused while the man spoke to her. "Yes. Okay. I will."  
  
She hung up, shaking her head angrily. Then she noticed that Champ had entered the room, and she looked up at him hopefully. Champ shook his head sadly, feeling bad that he couldn't offer a better answer to her unspoken question, and Claire slumped back into the couch.  
  
"What did the police say," Jaclyn asked, handing Champ a cup of coffee.  
  
"They won't report him as a missing person until he's been gone for 24 hours," Claire said frustrated. "They won't do anything."  
  
"I thought the last time you saw him was last night around seven," Champ said. "That's more than 24 hours ago...?"  
  
"Yes, but I don't know that," Claire answered, putting the phone aside and rising. "I don't know if he was missing at ten, I don't know if he was missing at midnight..." She paced the floor nervously, trying to piece things together in her mind. She gestured towards Champ. "You didn't see him this morning but then you didn't really look for him either. For all we know, he could have been in your apartment right until the time when he was supposed to meet at work, and didn't."  
  
"Claire, he's probably fine," Jaclyn offered, walking up to her. "Staying up all night isn't going to do you any good, you've got to rest." She gently led Claire to the couch again, and as Claire sat back down she looked at Jaclyn with tears in her eyes.  
  
"I feel responsible, Jaclyn." She tried to dry her eyes with her sleeve, but they were brimming with new tears almost immediately. "What if he hurt himself," she said in a feeble voice.  
  
Is it true what I feel in my heart  
  
I want to know  
  
Champ discreetly walked out into the hall, leaving the two women alone. He sipped his coffee, noticing that it was exactly as he preferred it. When had he ever been drinking coffee with Jaclyn? At Taggerty's he had just had water, and he was pretty sure he hadn't told her. Maybe Trevor had informed her as a part of his little scheme, it wouldn't surprise him.  
  
In the living room Jaclyn held Claire's hands in her own, trying to calm down her friend.  
  
"You are in no way responsible for his actions," Jaclyn was saying. "I know Trevor can be dramatic at times, but I don't believe he would ever end things like that." She hoped she sounded convincing because deep down she wasn't so sure.  
  
Claire nodded tiredly, sniffling. "I guess that will have to do for now..." Sighing, she rubbed her red eyes. "I still can't believe I pushed him away like that. As a therapist I should know better."  
  
"And, more importantly, as a friend..." Jaclyn softly commented. "Maybe you should take a few days off work until this is over. I can reschedule your appointments first thing in the morning..."  
  
Claire shook her head. "I need to keep myself busy, Jaclyn, to keep my mind occupied. I'll go crazy if I sit here and do nothing but wait. But thanks anyway. And thanks for staying with me tonight."  
  
"Will you be okay?" Jaclyn asked.  
  
"Right now I think I just need to rest."  
  
She did look tired, and Jaclyn gave her a tight hug before rising from the couch. Champ appeared in the doorway, and seeing that they were leaving he went to get his jacket. When he came back he smiled reassuringly at Claire.  
  
"Don't worry too much, Claire. If he shows up, I'll call you right away."  
  
Claire smiled her gratitude, and Jaclyn and Champ let themselves out, leaving Claire alone. Slowly she rose, turning off the lights as she passed them on the way to her bedroom upstairs. The whole situation felt oddly unreal, and she wished that at any moment she would wake up and it would all have be a dream. But the pain inside her was all too real, and as she buried herself in the covers and pillows on her bed where no one could see her, she let the grief and the guilt wash over her like long and slow tidal waves that pushed and pulled at her, leaving no room for rest.  
  
Long straight rows of cold rain were still pouring down outside, and the two lonely figures walked next to each other, nestled closely together under Jaclyn's umbrella. The wet asphalt reflected the streetlights and little streams of rain ran along the roadside.  
  
"Where do you think Trevor is?" Jaclyn asked Champ. "He doesn't know anyone but us..."  
  
"I don't know, Jaclyn. The weather is not exactly suitable for sleeping on a bench in a park."  
  
At Jaclyn's shocked expression Champ shook his head. "Not that I think Trevor would do that."  
  
They walked in silence as they crossed an empty street, not waiting for the light to turn green.  
  
"I feel sorry for them," Jaclyn continued. "They are both miserable in their own little enclosed space. They would make it so much easier for themselves if they would just talk to each other instead of trying to prove each other wrong all the time. And now this. Why did it have to come down to this?"  
  
Champ didn't know how to answer, and so they proceeded to walk in silence next to each other in the shelter of Jaclyn's umbrella. Champ had offered to carry it for her, since the buds along the edge of the material had been dangerously close to his temples due to their difference in height. She hadn't minded, and as they protruded along the wet streets, she snaked her arm under and around his, keeping close to him.  
  
As Champ cast a quick glance at the woman by his side he was reminded of something.  
  
"By the way, how did you know how I take my coffee? I don't recall ever drinking coffee with you."  
  
Jaclyn smiled mysteriously. "Well, I'm a secretary, Champ, it's what I do."  
  
"You can tell how people take their coffee?"  
  
"Something like that. Call it an occupational hazard. Claire thinks I listen in on her phone calls, because I often know whom she's been talking to just by the look on her face. She doesn't realize that she's like an open book."  
  
"Who would've thought that," Champ said with amusement.  
  
"For example," Jaclyn continued, "When she's been on the phone with her mother she gets very bossy and authoritative, and when her sister has called her she's all jittery. But when she's been talking to her dad, she gets elated and talkative. It's very charming, and she doesn't even seem to notice it herself."  
  
"So what's she like when she's been talking to Trevor?"  
  
"Ah, that's when the book is being shut, if you understand. And that says much more than the words that might be in it."  
  
Champ grinned. "Yeah, I'm not surprised. It's the same with Trevor."  
  
Slowly, a car approached them from behind on the other side of the street, rolling along the sidewalk. The sound of the driver honking the horn made Champ and Jaclyn turn their heads towards it, only noticing it now. Jaclyn's face brightened.  
  
"What do you know, it's a cab!" she yelled as she sprinted across the street, closely followed by Champ who struggled to fold the umbrella. Dirty water splashed around their feet, soaking their already wet pants.  
  
"Hey," the cab driver said as Jaclyn tumbled into the front seat. "I thought you might want a ride before the streets flood over."  
  
"Where have you guys been," Champ complained from the back seat. "We haven't seen a single cab all night."  
  
The driver shrugged as he pulled away from the curb. "The town is pretty much dead, it seems. It's not exactly the most inspiring weather. You were lucky I was in the neighborhood."  
  
As they drove around a corner, Jaclyn turned in her seat to look at Champ. He looked worried as he gazed through the rain-streaked window. It would probably take a lot for him to admit it, but she knew that he was just as upset about Trevor's disappearance as Claire was, and herself. After all, they all cared about him.  
  
Turning, she leaned back against the cool leather, shivering a little in her wet clothes. The saying was true, Jaclyn thought, you don't know how much you appreciate something until you don't have it anymore.  
  
***  
  
Wherever Claire went, Trevor's absence was oddly obvious. It was a simple truth really. Her office was strangely quiet, and as she approached Cuppa Java Tuesday night, hesitatingly, she felt she couldn't face the people out there, with their hungry souls deriving her of the last straws of clear thinking she had left, sucking guidance and advice out of her. Advice she couldn't even find for herself. How could she take care of them in the state she was in?  
  
Memories come around to me  
  
With pictures of what will never be  
  
She stood in the bathroom, staring at her own image with drops of cold water from the tap dripping from her chin. What was even worse, they would unavoidably ask where Trevor was, and she had no idea what to tell them.  
  
In the end it turned out she didn't have to. The minute she entered the cafÃ© area, much belated, she was greeted with hugs and encouraging words from everyone. It seemed that even Taggerty's had screamed his absence to the crowd, and those that had come by the bar earlier had already inquired Champ, and they had shared the news with the rest of the group.  
  
She stayed in the building hours after her faithful group had drifted out of the cafÃ©, doing nothing but sitting in the seat in the back where Trevor would usually sit, observant and on his toes to argue with her when he found it necessary. She had a strange empty feeling inside of her, and the impact of that was much stronger than Trevor's physical absence.  
  
Most of what we said was meaning nothing  
  
Though I never loved anyone before  
  
Is it true, what I feel in my heart  
  
Was it love right from the start  
  
Claire rushed into the waiting area of the local police station, already dreading the worst. As Jaclyn reached her, Claire was leaning over the counter, desperately looking around for an officer to talk to. A woman appeared, asking for her name and business there. Then she nodded, and Jaclyn put her hand supportingly on Claire's arm, urging her to listen to the policewoman as she calmly explained where Trevor had last been seen. Claire listened with wide eyes.  
  
Is it true, what I feel in my heart  
  
I want to know  
  
Was it love... was it love from the start.  
  
She didn't care about the hard rain that soaked her to the bone. She ran from her car and into the desolate area behind the old storehouses. She couldn't imagine what he had been doing here, unless...  
  
The ground shook lightly as Claire searched frantically along the wet ground of the embankment leading up to the railway. Then, not really believing it, she ran the opposite way towards the buildings, calling out into the alleys between the buildings. Her voice was barely audible over the drumming sound of the rain falling on tin roofs.  
  
Is it true, what I feel in my heart  
  
Was it love right from the start  
  
She panted, searching the area with feelings of hope and fear colliding inside of her. Then the unmistakable grating of iron against iron made her turn her head. He wouldn't have... he couldn't have... A freight train roared past her, and she turned in place in the middle of the dirty parking area. The rain mingled with the tears that had started coming, and for a moment she was blinded. Claire tried to wipe the water out of her face while the harsh sound of the train breaking speed filled the air around her.  
  
The ground beneath her shook, and at first she thought she would fall, until she realized that it wasn't the ground but her that shook. It took her another moment to realize that it was Jaclyn who was shaking her.  
  
"Claire!" she was saying. "Claire!"  
  
Is it true, what I feel in my heart  
  
I want to know  
  
"He isn't here, Claire. The police have already searched the place."  
  
The train had passed and Claire was able to focus on Jaclyn who was looking intently at her.  
  
"He isn't here."  
  
With heavy steps Claire walked the short way from the gate to her front door. She didn't feel like going in there, knowing she would be alone with her frustration and guilt. But her pride had told her to send Jaclyn home after reassuring her that she would be fine. She, Claire Allen, was fine. An old familiar mantra that sprung from her mouth by itself even when she wanted to tell the world that she wasn't fine. She wasn't even okay, she was miserable, and cold, and soaked.  
  
The rain had stopped, but suddenly the thought of going inside and shedding her wet clothes and taking a hot shower wasn't so unappealing to Claire. Once inside, she went directly up the stairs, leaving the apartment in darkness. She turned on the lights in her bedroom as soon as she reached it, and she quickly discarded her clothes in a corner before stepping into the bathroom and under the shower.  
  
She didn't stay there as long as she intended. She felt exhausted, and all she wanted was to sleep, and try to forget. Quickly she put on her bathrobe. She still felt chilled from the weather outside, and she thought that some tea would do her good before she went to bed. Grabbing a towel from a shelf in her bathroom she went down stairs, twisting the towel around her dripping hair in the process.  
  
Was it love... was it love from the-  
  
Then Claire noticed it. She stood completely still halfway inside her living room, frozen on the spot. The large towel was still wrapped around her hair and half of her face, and slowly she pushed it back so it didn't cover her eyes.  
  
The lights were on. In the hallway, and in the room she was standing in. But that wasn't the only thing that had changed. Like a sixth sense Claire felt him standing behind her, watching, waiting for her to turn around. Her heart pounded in her throat, and with great effort she forced herself to swirl around.  
  
"Did you just take a shower, or are you just happy to see me," Trevor asked. He was standing there, leaning against the doorframe to the living room with his arms crossed over his chest. The light reflected in his eyes and he was giving Claire an untroubled smile as he watched her flummoxed expression.  
  
"Trevor!" Without warning she found herself in his arms, holding on to him for dear life. Trevor was a little taken aback, but he said nothing as he returned her hug. The towel she had tried to wrap around her damp hair fell to the ground unnoticed.  
  
Claire let go of him as abruptly as she had embraced him, embarrassed at the sudden display of emotions.  
  
"You are all right! Trevor, you're all right. Tell me you're all right..."  
  
"I'm all right."  
  
"My God, Trevor..."  
  
"Wow, that's a change of attitude."  
  
"... I'm so relieved!" Claire flung her arms out to the sides at a loss for words. There was no describing how thankful to the universe she was that Trevor was standing right there in her living room unharmed.  
  
"Where... where were you all this time?" The relief had suddenly turned to anger. "I was worried sick about you!"  
  
Trevor's features sobered at the tone in Claire's voice. "I went home, Claire."  
  
"Champ has been on the phone with the police 24 hours a day since you disappeared, and Jaclyn has been working overtime trying to keep me from coming undone."  
  
"I know," Trevor said quietly as Claire paced the ground before him.  
  
"You've got a lot of nerve, Trevor. You disappear for almost a week only to show up in my house as if nothing had happened?! Here I was, fearing the worst had happened to you, losing sleep and trying desperately to figure out what to tell my superiors. Having a patient run out on me isn't going to look good in my resume! I could lose my job! I...!"  
  
Sighing heavily, Claire looked down as she wiped her forehead where warm drops had gathered from her damp hair. Trevor waited calmly for her to finish. In her eyes he could see just how anxious she had been for him, and he knew that he had been right in coming here again.  
  
Eventually she looked up. "You had me climbing the walls."  
  
"I know," Trevor said. "I... had some things I needed to take care of. But I came back." He reached forward and tentatively touched Claire's arm.  
  
Trevor seemed different, now that Claire took a good look at him. She couldn't quite pinpoint it, but he seemed calmer than usual, more... resolved. There was a sparkle in his eyes that she hadn't seen before.  
  
Feeling a little self-conscious under Trevor's warm gaze, Claire tugged at her bathrobe, pulling it closer around her.  
  
"Where were you?" Claire asked quietly.  
  
In front of her Trevor beamed, and releasing her arm he said, "I went home, Claire."  
  
"You went... home?"  
  
Trevor nodded. "Yeah. And I want you to come with me."  
  
Claire looked skeptically at him. She could feel the beginning of a smile tug at the corners of her mouth. Some things never change, after all, she though to herself.  
  
"Hmm, that sounds like the famous last words from a murderer."  
  
Trevor tilted his head lightly to the side. "Well, I won't murder you, but I'm definitely a killer." He grinned broadly as he leaned on to the doorframe again, looking completely nonchalant.  
  
"Uh..." As Claire looked at him, it once again struck her that something had changed. Had he really found himself in the time he was gone? Had the delusion left him and allowed him to finally come to terms with whatever tragic event he had lived through? And why couldn't she shake the feeling that she was missing an important point?  
  
"I... need to get dressed," Claire said when she remembered she was still standing in her robe.  
  
"Do I have a say in this?" Trevor asked as Claire went upstairs to her bedroom. As she quickly pulled out her dark sweat suit she thought about the inevitable conversation that lay ahead. She wasn't ignorant to the fact that they had some issues to talk about. A lot of things needed to be cleared between them, not to mention the apology she owed him. She wouldn't run from that now, not when she had gotten the chance to talk to him again.  
  
Finally she pulled the shirt over her head and as she turned she nearly bumped into Trevor who had silently appeared next to her.  
  
"Are you ready to go?" he asked.  
  
What trick had he prepared now, she wondered. And would it do any harm to go with it for once? After all, it wouldn't hurt to postpone the apology a little.  
  
"Alright," she said. "Show me some magic."  
  
Trevor smiled. Then he reached out with his left hand to take hold of Claire's arm, and with his right hand he snapped his fingers.  
  
Champ stood with his hands on his hips as he for the umpteenth time looked inside Trevor's room. He had been trying to look for a clue of some sort, but that wasn't easy since he didn't know what he was looking for exactly. It wasn't like he expected Trevor to leave a map of his whereabouts. People just don't disappear without a trace, but this time it seemed like Trevor had done jus that.  
  
On the table next to Trevor's bed Champ spotted a couple of half empty beer bottles. He started towards the table, thinking that he might as well clean up a little, but something on the way made him stop.  
  
"That's odd..." he muttered to himself as he looked from one wall to the other where Trevor's string of beads would usually hang. The string that he always had to be careful not to touch. Only now it wasn't there anymore.  
  
***  
  
Claire felt a light breeze caress her cheek and as light penetrated her eyelids, she slowly opened her eyes. She squinted against the bright daylight. Right in front of her was Trevor, smiling, and as she looked around, Claire gaped.  
  
They were standing on a gravel road that seemed to snake its way around the hillside that rose to her right. To her left the ground sloped downwards and ended in a white beach before the azure sea stretched before her until it met with the horizon.  
  
"The Aegean Sea," Trevor said. "Sorry if I ruffled your roughlessness, but I'm not used to transporting someone with me." He let go of Claire, and she half-stumbled backwards, looking around with a bewildered look on her face.  
  
"Where... are we?" Trevor looked at her and grinned, hands on his hips. "Technically we're in Thessaly, but you have to use the secret short-cut to get here."  
  
Claire turned in place. She could see several peaks rising in the distance, and green vegetation. "I don't understand..."  
  
Trevor spread his arms out wide. "This is the Olympic, Claire, this is where I live!"  
  
"I... I thought it was more..."  
  
"Mount Everest-like?" He grinned. "You've got to change your perspectives. Mount Olympus isn't one mountaintop, it's a large area with vast grassland, woods, hills... everything! It's my home, Claire."  
  
He stepped forward and clasped his arms around her, and before she could protest she was pulled several feet into the air. She yelped in surprise as the ground disappeared under her.  
  
"Trevor! Put me down! What are you doing?" She writhed so much in his grip that Trevor found it better to obey her before he dropped her, and she was back on the ground seconds later.  
  
"What... you can't do that!" She gestured towards him as he once again leapt off the ground and into the air. "That's impossible! Gravity..."  
  
"Ah yes, a law of nature invented by a god," Trevor called out to her. "I surpass that! This is my gift, it's what I do." To emphasize his last words he circled above Claire looking for the world like a playful colt on a spring day.  
  
She was beginning to feel dizzy, but if it was from turning in place to keep up with Trevor, or if it was she heat from the glaring sun on her dark suit she couldn't tell.  
  
"Please stop, Trevor, I can't take it right now. This is just too much." Closing her eyes against the sun she put a hand on her forehead, thinking that she felt warmer than usual. "I can't cope with it all, you... up there... everything..."  
  
She felt the light gush of air as Trevor gracefully landed before her and she suddenly found the sensation of his hands on her upper arms comforting.  
  
"Claire, calm down, I'm here, all right?" He looked at her seriously. "I'll stay down here, okay?"  
  
"Uh..." She nodded. "Okay."  
  
"Okay." Once again he let her go. "But we do need to get away from here. The Seasons might get impatient if we hang around this transit place much longer." Trevor shook his head. "You never know where you'll end up."  
  
He started walking along the gravel road, and as Claire, still feeling oddly surreal in these unfamiliar surroundings, stepped forward to follow she felt something that made her stop. She looked down at her bare feet, only just now remembering that she hadn't put on any shoes before Trevor had brought them to the Olympic.  
  
"Trevor... I don't have any shoes on," Claire said tiredly. He came back to her and considered for a short time.  
  
"Claire, can you ride a horse?"  
  
"Does it have wings, or something, because that's..." She almost laughed. "That's not really what I need to see right now."  
  
"No wings, I promise," Trevor replied. Then he turned to look up the tall hillside. "I'm sure Hera wouldn't mind lending me one of her stallions."  
  
Almost immediately Claire heard the sound of hooves on the ground, and a beautiful chestnut horse came trotting towards them. Trevor put a hand out and caressed the animal on the strong neck. He spoke something to it that Claire didn't understand. Then he jumped up easily before extending a hand to Claire and pulling her up in front of him. In the back of her mind she knew that in any other situation she would've been concerned about their positions, but she felt too overwhelmed by everything that was happening that she couldn't have cared less about it.  
  
As they moved along the road in silence, the landscape changed slowly. The road led slightly up the hill and away from the sea, and soon they were well into the land, moving towards a forest of black pine and beech trees. The sun shone through the crowns of the trees, striping the ground and warming Claire. The rustling sound of birds and the swaying walk of the horse all added to the drowsiness that was settling on her. She already felt exhausted. Trying to cope with all the new impressions of this place, let alone the fact that Trevor had mysteriously brought her to a mythological place that only existed in books. Or so she had thought all her life.  
  
She was dozing off, leaning against Trevor, and he gently put an arm around her to support her. Then he pressed his heel into the side of the willing horse, steering it off to the right.  
  
***  
  
"Look at her. She's beautiful."  
  
"Schh, you will wake her up, Nouri."  
  
"We were supposed to wake her, were we not?"  
  
"She moved, sisters. Be quiet!"  
  
Claire stirred lightly in the bed she was lying in. Then she stretched, pulling the cover partly away. She felt warm, and she wondered why she had gone to sleep with her clothes on. Rubbing her eyes, she smiled to herself, thinking about the dream she had just had. It had been an unlikely, but nice dream, nonetheless. She had actually seen the place that Trevor called home. Maybe it was wistful thinking or just her imagination playing tricks.  
  
Claire opened her eyes to find three pair of eyes staring at her, and she abruptly sat up. This caused the three similar females to draw back a little before they once again peered down at her. They had long faces and large eyes, and they were clad in light and fitting clothes of different green colors. One of them wore an orange scarf tied at her waist where her shirt stopped just above her navel.  
  
"Who are you?" Claire asked as she crawled out of the large bed.  
  
"We are Dryads," the girl with the scarf said. "I am Nouri, and these are my sisters Drakaena and Rhasyne. I am sorry if we startled you, but it has been many years since we saw a mortal."  
  
The girls were about a head shorter than Claire, but fully- grown. She ran a hand through her tousled hair while she leafed through her mental notes on Greek mythology.  
  
"Dryads... you are nymphs of the forest," she concluded at last. The two girls standing behind Nouri giggled at that.  
  
"Oh, you humans still idealize us," the latter said with a smile. "We outgrew out nymph title long ago. Now, let us not waste anymore time. If you would care to shower then go to the room just outside of this one. We have provided..." Nouri raised an eye at Claire's training suite, "... more appropriate clothes for you in the closet there to chose from. Come outside when you are done."  
  
Swiftly the girls left, and Claire took the chance to take in the surroundings. The house she was in seemed to only have one room, except for the bathroom that was through the door that Nouri had pointed out to her. The large bed was standing in an alcove, and thick golden drapes could be pulled all the way around it to make the sleeping area darker. There were many large windows, all of them without glass but with wooden blinds covering them. The warm glow of the late afternoon sun beamed through them and onto the wooden floor. The tall walls were boarded with wood as well. Two marble pillows supported the flat roof in the middle of the room, and marble was what the whole house was made of.  
  
As Claire entered the large bathroom next to the sleeping area, she marveled at the beauty of the oval bathtub that took up half the place of the room. There were orange, yellow and white flowers and green vines everywhere around it, and the water bubbled lightly as it slowly flowed through the tub via little holes around the edge.  
  
She smiled at the gesture when she saw that the flowers formed her name repeatedly around the tub. Mentally she felt more ready to face this strange place after sleeping. Some part of her, a thrilling juvenile curiosity not completely lost over the years, was actually pulling at her, and she dropped her clothes to take a quick bath.  
  
Outside Trevor was also smiling as he exited the larger house that lay to the left of the chalet where Claire was accommodated. Trevor's house mostly resembled a bungalow, flat as it was, but larger, and there were six broad limestone steps that lead up to the porch that covered the front.  
  
He set the tray he had been carrying on the table that stood on the terrace at the foot of the main building, and a short walk away along a tiled path the guesthouse was located.  
  
"Did you cut the fruit yet?" Trevor called as he removed cups, a can of cold well water and a jug of milk from the tray.  
  
A familiar face appeared at the stairs to the bungalow. "I left that for Champ, I'm way to busy inspecting this place," Jaclyn said. "Do you have any idea how exiting this is? It's like being in a fairy tale!"  
  
Eagerly she leapt down the stairs, looking everywhere around her as if she were afraid she'd miss something.  
  
"Ha," Trevor replied. "Tell that to Claire. If she doesn't wake up soon, she'll sleep from it all."  
  
"What is it I'm sleeping from?"  
  
Trevor and Jaclyn turned as Claire came down the path to them. Jaclyn rushed to her and hugged her. "Oh, you will love it here, Claire! Do you feel better?"  
  
Claire returned the hug, a little surprised. "Uh, yeah. Jaclyn, what are you doing here?"  
  
"Cupid brought us here a few hours ago. You've been sleeping the whole afternoon."  
  
Trevor could only stare as Jaclyn led Claire to the table. The crimson top she had picked had strings tied in a zigzag at the front, pulling the top tightly to her body, and the matching skirt stopped at just the right length above her knee. It was all painfully perfect for her.  
  
"Us?" Claire asked as she sat down on the bench in front of Jaclyn. The hem of her top rose just enough from her skirt to reveal beautiful pale skin.  
  
"Champ and I." Jaclyn turned to look towards the bungalow. "I wonder what's taking him so long. Maybe I should help."  
  
"I think that would be a job for the host here," Claire said, then added innocently, "That is, if he can drag his eyes from my back."  
  
"Uh... I..." Trevor gestured vaguely towards the house. "I should probably help Champ... yeah."  
  
Inside the house, he grabbed one of the wooden supporting beams, pretending to bang his head against it. Champ passed him carrying a tray piled with sliced fruit.  
  
"Instead of being a masochist, would you mind taking this?"  
  
"She's got to be aware of what she does to me," Trevor said. "There is no way I'll ever believe that she doesn't do it deliberately. I'm going nuts, you know?"  
  
Champ placed the tray in Trevor's outstretched hands. "Take an advice from a mortal, Trevor. Tell her. Speed up the process, anything that will move her."  
  
Just slightly Trevor's shoulders slumped. "I can't yet. You know that."  
  
For a moment Champ looked at his friend, wishing he understood the situation completely. He probably never would, though; all they could do was wait.  
  
"Will you get the bread?" Trevor asked, and Champ went to the kitchen area to retrieve the bread that the Dryads had prepared.  
  
***  
  
The small party was walking on a broad road that lead from the hillside where Trevor's place was located, along the edge of a cliff from which Claire nervously peered down on several occasions, and into the flatland in the middle of the country. To the left a stream ran alongside the cobble stone road, and as the landscape opened, houses began to appear, white houses scattered around each other along the main road which was at least 25 feet broad by now.  
  
Claire looked at her watch, but the time seemed to be different. In front of her Jaclyn was talking vividly to Nouri and the other Dryads that had followed them to the town, and even Champ seemed to have joined the conversation.  
  
She cast a sidelong glance at Trevor who was walking next to her. He looked different in the lose clothes he was wearing, but she had to admit that the tunic-like shirt suited him. It was sleeveless and Trevor's not completely unimpressive biceps were already taking color from the sun. He walked barefoot, unlike herself, Jaclyn, and Champ who all wore sandals of some kind.  
  
Trevor turned his head towards Claire, feeling her eyes on him.  
  
"What time is it, Trevor?" she asked, indicating at the sky. "The sun seems to be about to set in not too long."  
  
"Some days are longer than others," Trevor said. "It depends on what Apollo and Artemis have agreed on. Sometimes they night falls quickly if Artemis wants to annoy someone so that he can't get this day's work done before it gets dark. Nonetheless, this is a Mediterranean region, plus there are no artificial lights here for the sky to reflect, both of which is why it gets dark pretty early."  
  
"So... what time is it?" Claire asked again.  
  
Trevor grinned. "Around eight."  
  
The golden sun shone on the white walls of the houses as they cast long shadows behind them. They could hear music, and it seemed that there was a lot of activity going on further into the town.  
  
Suddenly everything seemed to burst into life as they rounded a corner, and Claire gasped. Glow lamps in warm colors hung from building to building along with long tassels of gold that reflected the colored lights and the sunlight like specters. There was an open market place with a myriad of people coming to and fro, and stands and embroidered tents with clothing, food, animals, and handicrafts. Heads turned wherever the small party went, curious eyes at the two humans and the tall dark man. Then they saw Trevor walking among them, and people exchanged knowing glances. Trevor seemed to constantly wave to people he knew, and Claire tried to keep up with him so she wouldn't get lost, but she found it difficult.  
  
"Oh my," Jaclyn exclaimed, "I would love one of those dresses." She pointed towards a small house that had beautiful gowns hanging on a sting on the front walls.  
  
"Then go there," Trevor said. "We don't use money here. We usually trade, but when you are a newcomer and don't have anything you will probably get it for free."  
  
"Really?" The redhead shot a longing look towards the dresses.  
  
"No money, no stress, that's the code here," Trevor said.  
  
"Awesome! Champ will you go with me? I don't want to be all by my self here."  
  
Champ was about to resist, but Jaclyn gave him no time to reply. Taking hold of his sleeve, she more or less dragged him away from a grinning Trevor. Nouri and Rhasyne followed Jaclyn and Champ, promising that they would try not to lose sight of them.  
  
Together Claire and Trevor walked away from the marketplace to a quieter area near the creek.  
  
"What is this place," Claire asked. "I must have misunderstood something, I thought the gods lived high up on the mountain."  
  
Trevor pointed to a spot beyond the town and beyond the woods that half-circled it.  
  
"Do you have any idea how many mountains are actually called Olympus? A lot, I'll tell you. But the mountain peak you're referring to is that one there. Zeus and Hera, my grandparents, live there along with Demeter and Hestia, and several of Zeus' children except Apollo and Artemis. But many of us have moved away, some to this village that we call Acharna where a lot of young immortals and nymphs have settled down. Some immortals even live far away, like Poseidon, or are never home, like dad. As you saw I live higher up on the hill we came from. I like the view," Trevor finished.  
  
"Hmm, I thought you lived up there, too," Claire said, indicating at the tall mountain peak in the distance.  
  
"Gods no," Trevor replied. "Try living with you mother for 2000 years!"  
  
"Yeah, it must have been hard on her," Claire quipped. It pleased Trevor that she was beginning to be her old self again. He was about to reply when the water in the creek behind them suddenly rose, and a large wave splashed down on both of them, soaking them to the skin.  
  
Claire wiped the water from her face, looking around her in surprise.  
  
"Okeanos!" Trevor roared. "I told you already I haven't been with any of your daughters! Not recently anyway."  
  
A man had appeared next to them, bearded and thick at the waist, and although he glistened, he appeared to be dry.  
  
"I'm sorry," the river god said between laughs. "I haven't had much to do lately. This was the high peak of my day."  
  
Claire crossed her arms over her chest, feeling a little chilled now that her clothes were wet.  
  
The sound of hooves made them look behind them, and they saw another man on a horse approach them. He waved at Trevor and Okeanos before hopping off the horse in front of Claire.  
  
"Okeanos still thinks that old trick is funny," the man said with a lenient smile towards the river god. "If you wish it I will gladly dry your clothes for you, mortal. You seem cold."  
  
"I don't know, I kind of like that Miss Wet T-shirt look on you," Trevor said, eyeing Claire openly.  
  
"Thank you, but I think I'll take the offer, Trevor."  
  
The man waved his hand at the two, and a warm wind blew against them briefly, drying them completely. Trevor looked like it was the most natural thing in the world, or this world at least, but Claire still didn't know what to think about all the unexplainable things that were happening. Only time could really tell what it would do to her.  
  
"For that one I'll never let you borrow my bow again," Trevor said disappointedly. "Let's get moving Claire."  
  
The evening was warm and still, and Claire enjoyed the comfortable clothes she was wearing. The material was soft and warm and still she felt her body could breathe freely in it. Trevor was more silent that she had ever experienced before, but she figured that he was as unaccustomed to having her here as she was to being here.  
  
"Why was everyone staring at us like they did?" Claire asked. "Back in the village I felt I was the subject of a biology class."  
  
"They were only enchanted by your dazzling magnificence," Trevor said with a smile.  
  
"Well that's sweet, but seriously?"  
  
"Seriously you must bear with them. Seeing a mortal here is a rare thing now, it hasn't happened in several centuries. Champ and Jaclyn are probably signing autographs by now."  
  
"At least they pose as themselves, and not as some other famous 'mortals', as I remember you doing from a limo once."  
  
Trevor shook his head. "Champ is an actor, Claire, he knows what cards he's holding. And Jaclyn does make a good agent Scully, don't you think? A gun in her hand, leather corset, four inch heels, pouting red lips? Oh wait," Trevor said as his dreamy expression turned to a frown. "That's you and my imagination..."  
  
"Didn't your mom tell you never to mix me and imagination? It's an explosive combination," Claire said. She meant to sound preachy but she couldn't keep the smile out of her voice. For once Trevor's sexual comments didn't bother her at all. It was probably the sanest thing that had happened to her in the last 12 hours.  
  
Trevor noticed too that he wasn't rewarded with a groan and upturned eyes, but he chose not to push it any further. They were walking on a gravel road again that led around the peak they were circling. It reached high up in the sky and it was impossible to see what was on top of it.  
  
Claire thought she saw light not far ahead.  
  
"Speaking of mom," Trevor said, "we are going to meet mine now."  
  
She saw that they were standing at the foot of thousand steps that led up the mountain. The steps were flanked all the way by torches set into the ground, illuminating the way. It was a very long way up, and Claire cast a nervous glance at Trevor.  
  
"Yes, Claire, either we walk all the way, and hope that we can make it before sunrise, or I fly us up there, which is a much more comfortable and less tiring means of transport for both of us."  
  
"That doesn't leave me much of a choice..." Claire sighed, knowing that she would be completely worn out if she insisted on walking all the way.  
  
"Fasten seatbelts," Trevor said, putting an arm behind her back, and reaching down he scooped her up in his arms easily. Claire hooked her arms around Trevor's neck, closing her eyes.  
  
"Ready?" Trevor asked, and Claire muffled something illegible against his shoulder.  
  
She had a sinking feeling in her stomach, and there was an odd sense of weightlessness at first, but eventually it vanished, replaced by the feeling of wind against her. By the time she dared open an eye, the ground had vanished far below them, the scattered woods dark spots, the town Acharna a clutter of lights, and the Sea to the left a silvery carpet painted by the sunrays of the setting sun.  
  
Then it was over, and Trevor gently set Claire down on the ground.  
  
"Thank you for choosing Air Olympia," he said. "We hope you had a pleasant flight, and please remember to tip the flight attendant as he deserves."  
  
Claire found herself standing on a courtyard, the ground covered with large square stones of shiny bronze. There were stables to both sides, and in the middle was a fountain of crystal, beautifully shaped like a man and a woman intertwined in each other with the long hair of the woman snaking around them.  
  
Trevor was enjoying Claire's spellbound expression fully. Huge wide-open gates marked the entrance to the palace. The whole ornamented faÃ§ade was beautifully chiseled out of stone. So rich on details was it that it was obvious to Claire that no human could have done that.  
  
"Cupid my man!" A tall thin man with a golden goatee came rushing towards them, and he crashed into Trevor so violently that it sent them both tumbling on the floor, rolling several feet until they both rose high up into the air in what seemed like a good natured wrestling match. Trevor was the stronger of the two, and soon he pushed the other downwards, and Claire had to jump aside to avoid being hit when Trevor crashed the other to the ground, pinning him down.  
  
"Still think you can wrestle me," Trevor said as he fought to keep the other down.  
  
"I would if you would stop using all those girly tricks," the tall man replied from underneath Trevor. "Did you learn that on Earth?"  
  
"Yeah, the mortal girls love wrestling with me." Before Trevor could say anything else, he was hit by a gush of air that sent him flying off the other man and into the wall that surrounded the courtyard before he fell to the ground in a bundle.  
  
Claire rushed to his side to help, but Trevor stood up effortlessly, brushing his clothes with a surprised grin.  
  
"Are you alright?" Claire asked, even though it was obvious that he was. Trevor nodded as he sought the source of the air gush that had ended the battle.  
  
"Sure," he said. "I would have won if Apollo there hadn't stopped me." He indicated at a man clad in blue and black clothes who was walking towards them with his arms crossed.  
  
"That will teach you not to fight with a brother," Apollo said pointedly.  
  
"An uncle, you mean," Trevor replied. The other tall man with the goatee had helped himself off the ground, and as he came up to them he bowed graciously to Claire.  
  
"It is an honor be thrown to the floor in your presence, Claire Allen," he said. "I am Hermes, messenger and conciliator among the gods, and also among mortals and gods, though I have not had much to do lately, since we have not associated with mortals for a long time." He kissed Claire's hand lightly.  
  
"Just call me Claire," she said. "Nice to meet you."  
  
Apollo rolled his eyes at Hermes. "A snake is what you are." Then he turned his attention to Claire, and he shook her hand once. "And I am Apollo. I see that your eyes are as clear as your name indicate. A precious thing." The otherwise serious immortal smiled briefly at a blushing Claire before turning back to Trevor and Hermes again.  
  
"Nonetheless, both of you, you know better than to fight in the Olympian courtyard."  
  
"Look who's talking," said Trevor, "I seem to remember you and Nike doing something else on this very place. As I recall it was even in the empty booth of Zeus' favorite stallion during the race in Attica..."  
  
Apollo's eyes widened, and Hermes tried to choke back a laugh.  
  
"Hermes, will you check up on Champ and Jaclyn for me? Make sure they know where to go tonight?"  
  
The thin man nodded eagerly.  
  
"Now, you'll have to excuse me, Claire and I must be going." Trevor took Claire by the arm and led her away from the fuming Apollo with a satisfied smile. They approached a small door that was located to the right of the gates, and Trevor quickly looked around as if seeing that no one watched before he pushed it open and dragged Claire with him into the corridor.  
  
"Nike?" Claire said. "Isn't that the goddess of victory that the sports company's taken its name from?"  
  
"Oh yes," Trevor replied as they walked along the brightly lid corridor. "Somewhat of a misunderstanding. Nike, she does it all the time, and if the company knew her they would know that the motto "Just do it" has very little to do with winning... Anyway, here we are."  
  
They came out of the corridor and into a garden of some kind, located in the center of the palace. The reddening sky was visible above the high walls that surrounded the garden, and it seemed that there was some kind of mist twirling it and out of the large trees that were growing there. Large butterflies of all colors batted past them, and Claire reached out as if to touch them.  
  
"Mom?" Trevor called, somewhat subdued. They went further into the tree garden, and a woman came out of the vines that hung from the branches. She wore saffron yellow flowing robes, and her lose hair was dark and shiny. She didn't look a day older than Trevor, although her demeanor spoke of millennia of knowledge just as the other immortals did.  
  
"I was expecting you," she said to Trevor, and Claire noticed that her voice was dark and rich, but also unsettling in some way.  
  
"Yes, I thought you were," Trevor replied. "Mom, I'd like you to meet Claire, she's..."  
  
"... A mortal. I see that." Claire felt the woman's dark eyes scrutinizing her, and it occurred to her that while Trevor used mortal as a natural equivalent to human, his mother said in a tone of resentment.  
  
"I'm pleased to meet you, Aphrodite," Claire tried.  
  
"Hmm," Aphrodite replied, still eyeing Claire closely. "My son was right, you are a beautiful specimen. To your standards, of course."  
  
Claire cast a glance at Trevor, and she could swear that he was blushing just lightly.  
  
"Thanks, mom, for telling her that. See?" He looked at Claire. "Immortal mothers aren't as different from human mothers. They always strive to embarrass their children."  
  
Aphrodite only raised an eyebrow at Trevor at that, and Claire seized the first opportunity to change the subject she could think of.  
  
"It's a beautiful garden. Did you grow it yourself?"  
  
"As a matter of fact I did," Aphrodite answered, as she slowly turned and indicated at the two to follow her. "Demeter planted it, but she is never around, so I am taking care of it myself. I wonder where she is."  
  
"Somewhere where she's appreciated," Trevor whispered to Claire. "Hera asked Demeter to plant a garden here, but mom wouldn't let her touch a thing."  
  
"Demeter is too pliable, that is what she is," Aphrodite said. She took a short knife from her belt and started working on a young tree. "Especially to mortals. She never finished this garden, so I had to take over. If you want things done, do them yourself. Do you see this?"  
  
She held out a branch that hung loosely from the beam, apparently broken off but still attached by the fibers in the bark. "Demeter would have healed it. But I prefer the faster solution."  
  
In an instant Aphrodite had cut the branch off and thrown it in a pile of compost. Her dark eyes darted to Claire. "Healing is risky and takes too long. If I left it there it would die and make a larger part of the tree go bad. All bad things must go eventually." Her eyes bore into Claire's.  
  
"I... I would have healed it instead," she said. Trevor was quietly watching from the side.  
  
"Would you?" She rose until she was at level with Claire. "You call yourself a therapist. Your profession is somewhat similar to healing, surely you must know the amount of work it demands. Can you tell me that you would never resort to easier means? Or, might I say, give up?"  
  
Claire was speechless. What Aphrodite was implying was unmistakable and Claire felt herself shrink under the weight of that.  
  
Trevor literally stepped in between them. "Uh, I think we should be going now, it's getting late."  
  
Aphrodite smiled and inclined her head. "Yes. A pleasure."  
  
Trevor led Claire away in a hurry, across the grass and into the corridor that ran along the main entrance.  
  
***  
  
In Acharna Jaclyn had tried on a lot of unfamiliar garments, and was now standing behind a curtain pulling a dress of a green material over her head. She held it up against her chest, looking at herself in the mirror.  
  
"Wow, I love this. Champ, can you help me out here?"  
  
Champ left the leather boots he had been looking at. He could just see the top of Jaclyn's hair above the curtain and he stopped there, uncertain of what to do.  
  
Jaclyn pulled the curtain aside. "Will you button this for me?" She turned her naked back to him.  
  
"Uh... sure."  
  
Fumbling a little he popped the buttons of the dress through the holes. The green color matched her red hair beautifully, and just for a moment he imagined what it would be like to touch her, to let his fingers run over her back, her shoulders...  
  
Jaclyn's eyes caught his own in the mirror. She was smiling broadly. He smiled back.  
  
"Are you alright back there?" It was Nouri asking.  
  
"Fine," Jaclyn replied, stepping past Champ. Nouri stood with the woman attending the sale. She was tall and had straight black hair tied up in a long ponytail. Her clothes seemed somewhat conservative compared to the vivid colors they had seen all day, but no less beautiful. Her left hand and forearm was wrapped in a white cloth, leaving just her finger free. Jaclyn wondered if she had been hurt, but that seemed unlikely given their divinity.  
  
Both of the women complimented Jaclyn on her choice.  
  
"That garment is perfect for you," Nouri said.  
  
"Certainly," the sales woman agreed with a smile. "It is so nice that my clothes are finally appreciated."  
  
"Why, the Huntress appreciates it," Nouri said quizzically. "She trades with you all the time."  
  
"Appreciates?" The woman raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at the smaller nymph. "She ruins everything she gets, that is what she does. It is a great waste."  
  
She went over to Jaclyn, straightening the dress in places unseen to the untrained eye.  
  
"Who is the Huntress?" Champ asked.  
  
Nouri and the woman looked at each other before the woman crossed her arms over her chest and answered in an amused tone.  
  
"The Huntress is what the people of Hellas used to call the goddess of hunt, of childbirth, and of nature. I think you know her as Diana, or Artemis, the moon goddess."  
  
Jaclyn looked down at herself, admiring the quality of the material. "If only we could do this at home."  
  
"Once you could," the woman with the black hair answered. "But it has been lost, as many of your skills have." She turned to Champ who was looking at the leather boots once again.  
  
"It is getting late. Would you two care to eat with us at the fire outside? There is food for everybody here."  
  
Jaclyn looked and Champ who looked at Jaclyn, and they nodded in unison. It had at least been four hours since they had eaten at Trevor's place.  
  
"Oh, and the boots are yours if you want them, I have plenty."  
  
"I really couldn't..."  
  
The woman walked past him and picked up the boots from the floor where they stood near the entrance.  
  
"Sure you can. Just fold your fingers around the leather and keep them there," she said, holding the boots against Champ's chest. "A fairly easy task, even for a mortal."  
  
She smiled, and Champ caught the boots as soon as she let go. Then he nodded approvingly, bending down to put them on. They fitted perfectly, and he rose to thank the woman, but she was already out of the door. Quickly they followed the woman and Nouri out of the shop and across the wide road. Just as the woman had said, there were several fires along the creek on the grass, and the scent of cooked meat and charcoal filled the air. The sky was already dark; Jaclyn hadn't noticed since the building she came from had been so brightly lit by the glow lamps, both on the inside and on the outside.  
  
There was the sound of something in the air, and an owl came flying above them. The woman walking in front of them extended her left arm, and the owl landed flawlessly on her clothed arm.  
  
"By the way," she said, turning her head to Jaclyn and Champ. "My name is Athena."  
  
They had been sitting on a long wooden bench for a while, enjoying the exoticly spiced food, watching the strange people walking by them, some talking in tongues they didn't understand. Jaclyn felt honored sitting so close to Athena, a renowned and dignified goddess. She was reflective, as legend had it, but not as serious as Jaclyn would have thought. Athena had authority, and when she had eaten, she turned to the many youths of the town who had assembled around her, entertaining them with many stories, most of which had a useful moral.  
  
Champ seemed to be captivated by her tales, too. At one point she quoted Shakespeare, and Champ couldn't resist the temptation. He walked up to Athena, bowed deeply to her, and finished the quote she had started in his best theatrical voice.  
  
The children laughed at the little act, and Athena asked him if he would stay and aid her in her stories. Champ looked over at Jaclyn who was sitting by herself, sipping wine from a cup, and she nodded eagerly, encouraging him to go on.  
  
She breathed in the warm air. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine she was on the Greek island Chios where she had been traveling a few years back. The temples and shrines and the Greek history had always fascinated her. Maybe that was why she had adjusted so quickly to this place. Maybe that was why she hadn't had any trouble believing that Trevor was Cupid. Or maybe she had just been a dreamer, as usual. It didn't matter now. He was Cupid, and he would have been, even if no one believed him. At least now even Claire couldn't doubt him.  
  
Someone sat down next to her and she opened her eyes to see Nouri's large brown eyes stare at her.  
  
"So," she said as she straddled the bench. "I see that Athena has taken your partner into her care."  
  
Jaclyn said, "Actually I think it's the other way around. Champ is teaching her Shakespeare. I think it was Hamlet he just recited. And uh... he isn't my partner, we're just friends. I know Champ because he works in the same bar as Cupid, and I know Cupid because I work for Claire who's the therapist he was seeing regularly when he was Trevor. Sometimes all four of us hang out in the bar over a drink or two."  
  
"A therapist?" Nouri asked. "You mean a healer? Was he sick?"  
  
"He went about matching up people constantly, telling them he was the god of love. Which he is, but no one believed him then. But if it was his Cupid belief or the fact that he wanted people to fall in love that people thought was crazy, I don't really know."  
  
Nouri nodded. "I see. We were not told much of what happened to him, but most of us have heard about the woman Claire."  
  
The nymph reached over and took a slice of bread, dipping it the broth in her bowl.  
  
"Actually," Jaclyn continued, "I think Champ and I are here because Cupid hopes that the magical milieu here will affect our senses and have us throwing ourselves at each other."  
  
Nouri laughed. "Can you blame him? It is what he does."  
  
"I guess so," Jaclyn replied with a smile.  
  
When Nouri had taken a few bites she asked, "So is it working?"  
  
Biting her lip, Jaclyn looked towards Champ, now holding a stick like a sword and waving with the other hand towards and imaginative enemy.  
  
"I don't know, Nouri. There's attraction, definitely, but... I think I'll have to agree with Claire on this one, he and I might be too different. But Cupid is the god of love, I wonder why he hasn't used his powers on us yet."  
  
"I cannot tell you if he would, but even if he did want to, he cannot do so. His bow has not been returned to him yet."  
  
"Oh? Why is that?"  
  
Before Nouri could reply someone called out for her.  
  
"Over here, Rhasyne!" Nouri called, rising from her seat.  
  
The sister sprinted to them, and as she stopped, a tall thin man landed next to her.  
  
"Jaclyn," Rhasyne said. "Cupid wanted to know if you were doing alright."  
  
Then thin man in the white clothes bowed to Jaclyn. "Allow me to introduce myself..."  
  
Nouri interrupted him. "Jaclyn, meet Hermes, our local jester."  
  
Hermes pretended to ignore her.  
  
"Really?" Jaclyn said, looking in wonder at the thin man with the fair hair. "I mean, not the jester part, of course... You're Hermes?"  
  
"Indeed." He took a seat next to Jaclyn on the other side. "Your friend Cupid sent me to keep an eye on you and your companion."  
  
"Well, tell him that we're just fine, and that we've been offered to stay at an inn here in Acharna. The local life here is so interesting that I think we'll stick around here for a while, and by then it'll be too late for us to return to Cupid's bungalow, I think."  
  
Hermes poured wine into a cup, nodding in acceptance. Then his blue eyes returned to Jaclyn once again. "You mortal females are more exquisite than I remember..."  
  
That provoked a chorus from the nymphs, including Drakaena who had joined them again. Hermes shot them an annoyed look, which provoked a series of giggles instead.  
  
"Tell me," Hermes said, eyeing Jaclyn closely. "Are you a liaison of sorts?"  
  
Jaclyn looked at him in wonder. "A liaison? In what sense?"  
  
"I mean..." The pale immortal scratched his thin beard with long fingers. "I am sensing something. Are you sure you are not a contact? You have formed many links, I believe."  
  
"Well... I set up appointments between my boss and others, due to my work..."  
  
"She's a secretary," Nouri added, seeing that Jaclyn didn't understand the question. At this Hermes' eyebrows crept up under his pangs, and he rose from the bench.  
  
"A secretary?" He bowed once again. "Dearest Jaclyn, I do believe that you have an unexplored skill. It has been a long time since I had the pleasure of working with mortals, but I doubt that I have forgotten how it is done."  
  
Unsure of what to say, Jaclyn looked at Nouri and Rhasyne, but they only shrugged.  
  
"I'm not sure I follow," she said. Hermes offered an elbow, and Jaclyn accepted, seeing that the nymphs were already occupied with other things.  
  
"Then we must talk in private," Hermes said, smiling as he led Jaclyn through the rows of people and to a more secluded area at the outskirts of the town where fields of barley and wheat stretched endlessly until they touched the dark night sky far away.  
  
***  
  
The flames in the fireplace cracked lightly, filling the air with a soothing sound. The person on the floor was Trevor, squatting and staring into the fire with his chin resting on his folded hands. Behind him and to the right was a futon of many soft cushions, the sheet crumbled from the person who had occupied it only moments ago. In front of the futon the wrought iron table stood, and two glass of lemonade were standing on the tabletop of weaved willow. To the left was a door that led to a bedroom, and inside it stood a large bed with a wrought iron frame, beautifully formed and created by the god of metalwork himself. White satin sheets and pillows covered the bed. Other than that the house looked pretty much like the smaller guesthouse.  
  
Something made Trevor turn away from the dancing flames.  
  
"I came to say goodnight," Claire said softly. She stood in the doorway to the bungalow, clad in a gown of raw silk and a rope of an unknown thick material. It was dark outside, but the silvery moonlight created a halo around her, and to Trevor her warm earthly beauty was more divine to him than his own immortality.  
  
"A goodnight drink?" Trevor offered her one of the lemonades, and she accepted it.  
  
"I apologize on behalf of my mom," Trevor said. "She gets very competitive when she feels that her beauty might be surpassed by someone else. Especially if it's by a therapist of Earth's Chicago."  
  
Claire smiled behind the glass she was holding. The light from the fire was flickering in Trevor's eyes, giving them a dark golden color.  
  
"It's okay."  
  
They stood like that, Claire just inside of the door with her back against the wall, and Trevor within an arm's length from her with his back to the fireplace. His eyes never left her, and at last Claire cocked an eyebrow at him.  
  
"Admit it," he finally said, resting his free hand on the wall an inch from her, separating her from the door. "You like it here."  
  
"Let's just say I'm adjusting," Claire replied with a smug smile.  
  
"I thought that was solely a male ritual..." He held out his hand as if cupping something.  
  
"Funny. To this place, Trevor."  
  
Trevor kept on, "... Because all I can imagine you could adjust are these, and they are perfect where they..."  
  
"I thought you had wings," Claire interrupted him.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I thought you said you had wings, for flying."  
  
For a moment he considered. "You're just asking that to end our previous conversation, aren't you?" Trevor asked.  
  
"Yes I am," Claire replied matter-of-factly.  
  
"Fair enough. And to answer your question, I don't need actual wings to fly. In fact, they would mostly be in the way. However..." He straightened up and snapped his fingers for the dramatic effect of it, and large wings of long white feathers appeared on his back, blocking the view to the fireplace completely. "Once it was customary to show yourself to mortals in this manner because it inspired respect to your worshippers. But then it became more of a distinguish mark from all he other gods."  
  
The white wings were a beautiful sight, even more so when Trevor spread them wide open, and the tips of the feathers almost touched the roof of the building. Claire reached out with her free hand, letting two fingers trail the shape of a feather. They felt real enough to her.  
  
Then he made them vanish once more. "Anyway, I've never appeared winged on Olympus. White wings are a Christian perception of heavenly creatures."  
  
"What with the black wings you wore at your Cupid's Day party?" Claire asked as Trevor once again rested his hand against the wall next to her.  
  
"My favorite outfit for Egyptian masquerades," he smiled. "Much more cool that white wings."  
  
"I see." Claire ducked under his arm, and took a step outside before turning around once more. "Goodnight, Trevor. Don't come sneaking into my bed during the night, okay?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Sure you will, or sure you won't?"  
  
Trevor only smiled. He watched her as she walked down the steps and across the terrace. The shadows concealed her as she walked the path to the guesthouse, and Trevor turned away, feeling tired himself after the sightseeing. He wasn't used to walking this much in the rocky landscape of his home, and he hoped Claire would soon come to terms with his flying abilities before his feet turned the size of an elephant's.  
  
She is dreaming again...  
  
Soft floor, familiar odors. Then a cool air chills her. A figure, long dark hair, blocks out the sunlight. Claire feels choked, her head filled with voices. Or is it just one voice? "You must leave," the woman says. "Leave... Not welcome." The dark hair is creeping around her, seeking upwards. A hand extends towards Claire, pain, and she screams...  
  
... And sat up with a jerk in the bed, the sheets rustling around her as she flailed her arms around for defense. Her skin was covered with sweat, and with wide open eyes she stared at the empty darkness in the room, panting.  
  
No one was there, and Claire clutched her chest, willing the dream away. She knew now where she had seen the woman in her dream before. Aphrodite had invaded her dream, and it was not the first time.  
  
As she lay back down, she thought about what Aphrodite had said to her. It had not been totally uncalled for, the harsh words. Claire could only imagine what it must have seemed like for Trevor's mother to watch her son being treated like a lunatic, and then, even after all the time with him, she had given up on him, just like Aphrodite said. Even though Trevor hadn't said anything she knew that she must have hurt him badly, and she needed to talk to him about that. She needed to apologize, and maybe...  
  
A smile played on her lips, and she suddenly thought of him lying not too far away from her. He hadn't come sneaking in as she had expected. Or hoped. Maybe she should come to him. After all she couldn't find rest now, and she felt that being close to Trevor would keep the unsettling dream at bay.  
  
She rose from the bed, pulled the thick drapes aside and dapped across the floor and outside.  
  
He was lying there partially on his stomach in the darkness, snoring lightly in the large bed. Threads of moonlight shone through the partially closed blinds, caressing his sleeping form, and Claire took a step closer towards the bed, hesitating.  
  
She hugged herself, feeling goose pumps in her arms now that her body had cooled off, and it didn't take her long to make up her mind and creep into the bed as carefully as she could.  
  
Then she lay there, staring at Trevor's back. She could feel the heat emanating from his body, and all she wanted was to be near him. What harm could it do if she lay a little closer? Tentatively she reached out and let her hand slip under his cover, snuggling her arm around his stomach, quietly edging closer. He stirred a little, but his even breath told her she hadn't awakened him. Finally she let her body relax gently against his and she exhaled silently, comfortable in the familiar nearness of him.  
  
***  
  
After having rubbed his eyes a hundred times, Trevor finally accepted that it was not yet another particularly vivid and cruel dream. Claire was indeed lying next to him in his bed. Lying next to was really an understatement. Trevor moved his hand from where it had been on Claire's shoulder and lifted his head cautiously to look at the body sprawled across his own. He was laying on his back, with Claire resting peacefully halfway on his right side, her arm lying across his chest and her legs practically tangled up with the sheet and his own legs. She was sound asleep, lying on his right arm with her head resting on his collarbone and the hair from the top of her head tickling his neck.  
  
Making sure that she was asleep, Trevor let his eyes wander along the curves of her body, admiring every inch of her. The silk gown she wore was barely concealing anything, and he let his fingers trail down her naked shoulder and down her side.  
  
She was so beautiful. If there was any justice in the world, she would never wake up and he would lie with her here by his side forever. Trevor was about to consider how to get out of the bed without waking her when Claire stretched in her sleep, and before he could prevent it she unconsciously drew her leg up over his and jolted her knee into him in the process.  
  
He bit down on his knuckles to stifle a desperate yelp. "By all the twelve..." he muttered when he could finally breathe.  
  
His hand had strayed to her knee in an attempt to stop the impact, but now it was just resting there, the sensation of her warm naked skin tingling his palm. With a sigh he let his head fall back onto his pillow and with a pained expression he closing his eyes momentarily. It wasn't more than a week ago that he had been standing with this very woman in her apartment on a rainy Saturday night, kissing her passionately and pressing his body against hers, all of it with her consent. How he longed to touch her that way again, even more now that she was so close.  
  
Enough is enough, Trevor thought as he opened his eyes again. He had to get out of the bed and away from her right now, before he embarrassed both of them. In a very artistic way, a skill he didn't even know he possessed, he managed to crawl out from under her without waking her, and he quietly escaped from the bedroom, heading outside.  
  
Jaclyn sat under a tree with Nouri and her mate Laiantos. He was a son of the sea god Nereus, pale and with stark black hair. They sat in the shade, since Laiantos said the constant sunlight wasn't good for him. Two goddesses by the names Thalia and Euphrosyne were playing flutes nearby, and Nouri was keenly watching them.  
  
"I wish I could play like that," she said to Jaclyn. "Or any instrument."  
  
"Why don't you?" Jaclyn asked. "Surely you can learn it. You must have plenty of time on your hands for that."  
  
The nymph shook her head at Jaclyn. "It is different than that. They are two of the Graces, Jaclyn, they are born with their abilities. It is perfection."  
  
Laiantos laughed at that, and he shot Jaclyn a knowing look. "She is just jealous. Nouri can play the flute, but she wants to be the best in all the worlds."  
  
Nouri gave him a shove, although she wasn't really mad at him. "I am not jealous," she insisted. "How can you be jealous at someone as unassuming as them? No... Envious maybe."  
  
Laiantos gave her a peck on the cheek. "I love you anyway," he said. They suddenly bounced and sprinted into the woods, chasing each other in and out of the trees in a joyous hunt. Nouri was the faster as she pulled herself up into a tree and leapt from branch to branch in swift movements, obviously accustomed to maneuvering off the ground.  
  
There were many more gods than the old myths had spoken of. Some lived in Acharna, some in other parts of the land. During the day most of them were working, each tending to their duty. No one was in real contact with humans, though, except for Demeter, the goddess of harvest and corn. The Hellenes in Corinth didn't know about it, but she spent a great deal of time there on a farm, selling organic agricultural products to the lowest prices ever seen. She was a popular seller there, and whenever the authorities decided to look into her business for possible tax fraud, Mnemosyne would aid Demeter and make them forget.  
  
The other Olympians had long ago given up on her. Her love for the humans was accepted by now, although she was under strict orders not to reveal who she was, ever.  
  
Jaclyn smiled at the young couple before looking towards the familiar figure that was on his way up to her. As Champ sat down beside her she exhaled contentedly, enjoying the warm sun as opposed to the cold and rainy days that had kept the winter from settling over Chicago.  
  
"Champ, d'you know what Nouri asked me yesterday?"  
  
He held his fingertips to Jaclyn's temples, narrowing his eyes in a concentrated expression.  
  
"Yes," he said. "She asked you about you and me, if we were a couple, or if we just looked that way."  
  
Stunned, Jaclyn's jaw dropped a little before she was able to collect herself. "All these years you've been a Vulcan, and you never told us?"  
  
Champ inclined his head, raising one eyebrow in a manner that would have made Spock proud, and Jaclyn smiled.  
  
"Really, how did you know?" she asked.  
  
Champ put his hands on the soft grass, leaning back slightly. "Athena asked me the same question," he said with a smile.  
  
"Oh I see." She pulled her legs up under her and folded her arms around her knees. "What did you tell her then?"  
  
Champ eyed Jaclyn. He didn't know what she would have wanted him to say, and he was afraid that he would walk into some unpredictable trap only women knew about.  
  
"I'd rather you tell me what you told Nouri," he said cautiously.  
  
Jaclyn couldn't help but laugh at that. "Why, the truth!"  
  
Champ still looked suspicious, and Jaclyn gave in, knowing he wouldn't budge, cautious as he was.  
  
"I told her," she began, "That you were an attractive man, but that we hadn't gone any further than drinks at a bar."  
  
"Well, that's exactly what I told Athena."  
  
He seemed relieved, but Jaclyn had a feeling it was a cover for something else. Maybe disappointment?  
  
"Oh," she said. "Then there's no problem I guess."  
  
Champ thought he detected the slightest tone of regret in her voice, but he couldn't be sure.  
  
"Unless," she continued as she rose from the ground and brushed the grass off her clothes. "Unless you told Athena I was a man. In that case I'd say that you're the one with a problem."  
  
She gave him a hand, and he grabbed it automatically, never really considering how a person of her size was supposed to help someone twice as heavy up from the ground.  
  
Jaclyn wasn't prepared for the pull either, and as Champ drew his arm to him, expecting some resistance, he suddenly found himself on his back on the grass with Jaclyn partially over him. One of her hands was on his chest and the other had landed in the grass next to his head in an attempt to break the fall. Her face was just a few inches from his.  
  
"I'm... pretty sure I got the gender right," he said quietly, staring at her lips hovering over his. She scrambled off of him, somewhat embarrassed at the sudden physical contact.  
  
He stood up as well, a little uncertain at what to do now. After a few moments of awkward silence they finally looked at each other as if thinking the same thing.  
  
Jaclyn began, "Why don't we..."  
  
"... blame this one on Cupid?"  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"Excellent idea."  
  
"Then let's go."  
  
Together they walked down the sloping ground towards Acharna in search for Trevor and Claire.  
  
She was holding up strands of her hair. She wavered between looking impatient and amused, pursing her lips and tapping the tip of her toe on the ground.  
  
"Are you done yet?" she said, and then added, just for the fun of it, "You know, being the god of love, I'd thought you would be quicker."  
  
There was a grunt from behind from Trevor. He has his hands in her hair, carefully inserting something between the locks she was holding between her fingers.  
  
"I thought women loved slow lovers, Claire. You know, emotional stuff, a three hour foreplay that begins at dinner, simultaneous orgasms, then some more emotional stuff? Do you know how hard we have to fight to stay awake afterwards? It's..."  
  
"A somewhat clichÃ©d perception, Trevor. Girls like just as many variations as men do. In fact... In fact, I don't even know why we're talking about this since it has no relevance at this moment whatsoever. And hurry up, I can't hold up my arms much longer."  
  
Behind her Trevor smiled. I'm just saying that girls used to love this, Claire. Just stand still and let me show you how it's done."  
  
"I'm not ten anymore, Trevor. I'll look ridiculous, I..."  
  
Trevor removed her hands from her hair, and then placed his hands at her waist, turning her towards the large glass windows that covered the entrance to the taverna they were dining at. Claire took a step forward, genuinely surprised.  
  
Trevor had weaved pink Cyclamens into her hair in an amazing pattern, unlike anything she's ever seen. Gently she touched one that sat just behind her left ear.  
  
She looked at his reflection in the glass door. "This is... How did you do that?"  
  
"It's magic, baby," he smiled. "All the girls will envy you at school now."  
  
Claire turned away from the window to face Trevor again. "You're right."  
  
Trevor frowned. "I am?"  
  
With a mischievous smile she walked past him to the round table they had been sitting by. "I love it."  
  
"You do?" He followed her to the table and took the seat opposite of her.  
  
"Sure. You know how I used to watch Little House on the Prairie when I was a kid? The children were always so careless and untroubled, dashing around in the fields. They had daffodils in their hair. It was sweet."  
  
With a dreamy look on her face she poked around in the bowl in search for the nicest grapes, ignoring Trevor as he winced at the thought.  
  
"That's just corny, Claire. The six o'clock pollen count is more exciting by comparison."  
  
She held up a dark red grape, shifting it lightly to the sides to let the sun reflect in the moist surface.  
  
"I'll grant it's a little old-fashioned maybe. But honestly, what's wrong with that?"  
  
Trevor leaned in a little closer. "Gee, the keyword being 'old- fashioned'?"  
  
The grape touched her lips gently as she held it up in front of her. It lingered there, waiting to enter, but it never did. Trevor's world had suddenly narrowed in to only contain three slim fingers with perfect nails, holding a deep red grape to pink lips.  
  
He swallowed and forced his gaze from the vision to her eyes. She was watching him intensely.  
  
"Sometimes I enjoy something old-fashioned," she said in a low voice. "Like a foreplay that starts at dinner. Don't you?"  
  
They held each other's gaze, and Trevor wondered whether she was aware that her pupils had dilated somewhat. She might be playing, but she wasn't unaffected by it herself.  
  
"I think..." He paused, reaching across the table to touch the hand that held the fruit lightly. He let his fingertips run along her fingers, his eyes never leaving hers. Whatever she had intended, she had definitely forgotten it now.  
  
His voice was low when he continued. "I think that you shouldn't start something you can't finish." Then he snatched the grape from her hand and rose from his chair.  
  
"Come on, Sparky. Champ and Jaclyn are waiting for us."  
  
Claire blinked, not sure what had just happened. Trevor had turned and was strolling away from the taverna. She couldn't see the smile on his face as he nonchalantly looked from side to side, pretending to look for their two friends.  
  
A cool breeze was blowing in the shadows of the naked cliffs where the sun had yet to shine. From this height Acharna was just an insignificant spot. Aphrodite glanced past the Horae that guarded the Gates to Olympus, watching the world beyond. Once she had been worshipped at the shrines and temples of Cyprus and Attica, receiving the respect her grace deserved. Now they barely acknowledged her presence.  
  
And now this Claire Allen had come here, stealing the attention from her and messing in affairs that that no mortal should touch. She had tried to talk to Zeus about this, but it had been in vain. Claire was not one of his concerns, and why would she be, considering Zeus' fondness of women. When she had approached Hera with this, she had denied it, saying that her husband was past that phase. It was clear to Aphrodite that if she wanted something done, she would have to take matters into her own hands.  
  
She turned away from the view and walked down the steps from the patio. A thin man with a blond beard waited there, just inside the palace. When he saw the grim face of the goddess he bowed deeply, smiling apologetically as if trying to mend errors he was bound to make in the near future.  
  
"Dear Aphrodite," Hermes meowed, "May I just point out how lovely you look today? No one has ever outshone your..."  
  
Aphrodite cut him off with a dismissing wave of her hand. "There is no need for that, Hermes, you are not the cause of my worries."  
  
The slick god looked obviously relieved. "I am glad, Aphrodite."  
  
They passed a sunny area on the south side of the palace where anemones and cyclamens had been planted along with hyacinths. Aphrodite made sure there was no one in sight when she stopped.  
  
"And I am sure that you would prefer it that way," she said, taking a long look at the azure sky above them. She could feel Hermes fidgeting a few feet next to her, and she had to fight to keep the smile away from her lips.  
  
"Of course," Hermes muttered, fingering the hem of his chiton nervously.  
  
Without turning to look at him she continued, "See, I know what you are trying to do with the mortal girl Jaclyn. I have been watching you."  
  
There was absolute silence from the place where Hermes stood.  
  
"You know what Zeus would think about that," she said in a casual tone. "Disobedience... He will not go easy on you with that one."  
  
Hermes was still frozen on the spot, frantically trying to find a way out of this one, but finding none. He hadn't thought that he would be under such surveillance, least of all by Aphrodite.  
  
She turned to him at once and planted a warm hand on Hermes' tense shoulder. His skin was cool to the touch. "But I will not tell anyone, Hermes."  
  
His tall form seemed to shrink as he tried to read the expression on her face.  
  
"See, I want you to do something for me." She waited while he nodded eagerly; then removed her hand from his shoulder.  
  
"I want you to get me something. Something that can help me get rid of Claire Allen. I do not care much for her, she is a menace to my son. I want you to go to Earth and to Claire's home. You do that, Hermes, and you can continue your task with Jaclyn freely. Do you understand?"  
  
He let go of the breath he'd been holding. "I understand, Anadyomne."  
  
She smiled, content with her plan. "Good. Will you do it?"  
  
"Yes, I shall do whatever you say. You are too kind. I..."  
  
"Yes yes, you can stop sucking up to me now. It is not fit for immortals. Now go." She walked past him towards the courtyard of the palace with her long dress flowing out behind her.  
  
"Yes, Aphrodite," Hermes said, bowing once again. When she had left him and he was alone, he gnawed worriedly on his lower lip. He was not at all comfortable with Aphrodite's demand, but he saw no other solution but to comply. Sighing, he walked to the edge of the stairs that ran along this side of the mountain. As ground was replaced by air, and the peak of Olympus disappeared behind him, Hermes thought about Jaclyn and how lucky she was to have found her skill so quickly. She had already made good progress, and maybe he would be able to make something good out of the situation after all. He still needed to work with her, though, and he quickly descended towards the town Acharna, wishing he had more time.  
  
***  
  
continued in part three 


End file.
